The Wandering Icebergs
June 1–September 30, 2023
Vanja Bućan is the eighth foreign artist to be commissioned with the artistic wrapping of the landmark office building on Schottenring. Entitled Wandering icebergs, the 4,000 square meter artwork is made up of a total of 30 printed netting sheets, each around 3 meters wide and up to 63 meters long. The picture shows a relaxed and inviting scene, conveying a sense of summertime leisure as a group of bathers enjoys the charming seaside setting. But at the same time, the clouds in the background—and the sharp silhouettes that jump out from them—call to mind the eponymous icebergs, which conjure up images of a menacing change on the horizon. Vanja Bućan wants her painting to highlight nature’s inherent potential for change. Like the people in “Wandering icebergs, all of us are only tiny fragments of a larger context. Drifting icebergs have become a symbol of climate change, but they also represent just how unpredictable events can be. And at this particular moment on the beach, it’s not entirely clear how the day will turn out for the bathers.
Born in 1973 in Nova Gorica in Slovenia, freelance photographer Vanja Bućan now lives and works in Berlin. She also collaborates with the Ljubljana Academy of Arts in her role as a mentor. She initially studied social sciences before going on to complete a degree at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague in 2010. Over the years, Vanja Bućan has developed a style all of her own, with a focus on depicting people and nature as well as the relationship between them. The position of women in society is another recurring theme in her oeuvre. Her work has been exhibited both across the former Yugoslavia and internationally. Her most notable international appearances include shows at Kunst Haus Wien in the Austrian capital, the Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz, Benaki Museum (Greece), Lishui Museum of Art (China), Beijing’s CAFA Art Museum (China), Museum of Modern Art Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and she has also participated in various international photography festivals and art fairs.
Vanja Bućan: Wandering icebergs
At the Ringturm from June–September 2023
On display in the Ringturm exhibition centre.
Coinciding with Vanja Bućan’s façade installation, the series “Architecture in the Ringturm” dedicates an extensive personal exhibition to Otto Wagner student Jože Plečnik, which will be on view in the ground-level exhibition center of the Ringturm.
Slovenia: Discovery Tour—Plečnik and His Timeless Language of Forms
June 27–September 15, 2023
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm, free admission
Closed on public holidays
